## The Problem
Thornwood CPAs handles 80+ audit responses annually across their tax practice. Q4 historically spikes as IRS accelerates correspondence after filing season. "We'd have four or five notices drop in the same week," recalls senior manager Laura Trent. "Our team was already at capacity. Something had to give."
## The Solution
Thornwood onboarded AuditKit with a two-week training sprint in October. They assigned two senior staff as 'audit champions' who handled initial triage and first-draft review. The AI was configured with Thornwood's preferred response formats and citation standards.
"We treated it like a new client — there was onboarding, there were adjustments. But by mid-November, it was humming."
## The Results
During the Q4 surge, Thornwood processed 18 audit responses — their highest volume — with no overtime and no late filings. Average per-case admin hours dropped from 12 to 4.8. "We didn't expect that kind of reduction that fast," Laura notes. "The team stopped dreading the mail. That's not nothing."
Thornwood is now piloting AuditKit's proactive notice monitoring to flag potential issues before clients receive IRS correspondence.